Recently we've been over run with the evil little creatures known as mice!
For months they were in the garage which didn't bother me that much because they didn't come inside. After a few days of heavy rain I started noticing our noodle packets had holes in them and there were mice droppings in the cupboard. Whilst this disgusted me, they didn't get into anything else, which was really weird, but we got some plastic snap traps to make sure it stayed that way, We set them with vegemite and peanut butter and didn't get a single mouse. Remembering their love for mi goreng noodles, we put a small piece on eat trap, BHAM, within a few hours we had successfully trapped and (instantly) killed about 8 mice. Over the next few days we only got 1 or 2 more and after doing a thorough clean in the cupboard and the weather getting better, they seemed to be eradicated, from the house at least. The garage was still a popular home for them, i never really went out there so i had no idea just how bad they were becoming. Sitting out there with the boys one day i noticed them running everywhere, it was disgusting! I couldn't believe that R had allowed it to get so bad without telling me or putting traps out there! I set a few and we caught mouse after mouse, but i knew we'd probably never catch them all since they breed so quickly, but so long as they weren't in the house, i didn't care too much.
A few weeks later the rain came back, and so did the mice!
It seemed like it was only a few days from when we noticed them, to when they had overrun our food cupboard.
One night we couldn't stand the noise anymore (we had left it longer than we should have as it was), we threw out almost all of the food in the cupboard, anything that wasn't in a sealed hard plastic container or a glass bottle went. It wasn't until we looked in the very top shelf that we realised the extend of the mini-infestation! It was filled with the usual top shelf items, unopened bills, half packets of straws, serviettes, and all the usual bits and pieces you probably should have thrown out months ago. Everything from that shelf went into the bin, including a pasta maker, no amount of cleaning chemical could make me want to use anything from up there again! The amount of poo was vomit worthy, the smell was revolting!
After cleaning it all out with some pretty hardcore cleaning chemicals, we set up traps and ensured all future food was put into containers before being put in there.
I have become pretty OCD with cleaning the benchtop with commercial grade cleaner sanitiser and rinsing repeatedly, especially after seeing a mouse run across the bench near the oven.. HOWEVER we are still finding mouse poo in the cupboard! There is nothing in there for them to eat anymore so why do they keep coming back??
My dog's ancestors were bred for rat baiting, a sport that came about after dog fighting was outlawed. It involved putting a dog in a ring with rats and seeing how many rats they could catch and kill within a certain amount of time. Yet my dog, big beefy J, sat and watched as mice ran from the kitchen to the lounge. When we had people over one weekend he surprisingly chased one and knocked over a table to try and get to it.. SHOW OFF! Needless to say his big boof head didn't get it, and he hasn't tried since.
We have caught 1 or 2 in traps since but they don't seem to be fooled by those anymore, so today i went on the lookout for smelly things i could spray to deter them.
The first is Peppermint.
Most of information says to dilute peppermint oil with water and spray along areas where they've been known to get in and where they like to hang out. Others say to soak cotton wool in it and place around the house. I could definitely get used to the house smelling like peppermint so when i can get my hands on some, i'm going to peppermint the shit out of the food cupboard and spray near every door and window.
However peppermint oil isn't something you can buy in a supermarket and i'm not really wanting to leave my house right now so it will have to wait until the weekend.
I have a mint plant on the bench which is perhaps why i've never seen any mouse poo on that bench (the one running across it was on the other bench), so i might break off a few sprigs and sprinkle around the cupboard in the meantime.
The second is Ammonia.
I remember my mum using cloudy ammonia around the garden to keep the cats away, i have no idea if it ever worked but i don't ever remember seeing a cat in any of our yards. Apparently it works by tricking the mice into thinking that a bigger predator animal is around and their natural instincts tell them to get the hell out of there and not to come back!
I don't have cloudy ammonia and like i said before, i cannot be bothered leaving the house right now, but i do have an ammoniated cleaner that definitely does have a strong smell because i use it for cleaning and it hurts my lungs. I work for an industrial cleaning chemical company and this is their "APC", more like KILL EVERYTHING SPRAY. So i will try putting a few bottle caps of it in the top of the cupboard and if the smell doesn't drive them away, they'll certainly die from drinking it.. I just don't know how we'll cope with the smell, uuuck.
So if you're still reading this you either don't get grossed out easily or i can make a mice invasion sound really intriguing, either way, i will update in a few days.. if there is no more mouse poo, i know i've done something right! I can guarantee i will find mouse poo within a few hours if it isn't working.
